Field of the Invention
This application generally relates to a speed measuring device, and in particular, a speed measuring device adapted to detect the speed of a ball or other projectile on a sports field or other setting.
Description of the Related Art
It is desirable for a baseball pitcher to determine how fast he has thrown the ball. Conventionally, this is accomplished by using a radar gun positioned behind the catcher to whom the pitcher throws the baseball. The radar gun measures the speed by utilizing the Doppler effect, which is caused by a shift in the wavelength. Devices of this type under the trade names including Jugs and Stalker are relatively accurate, if used properly, but they are too expensive for most people, most models priced at $1,000 or higher. They attempt to capture true release speed but actually capture the speed at some distance away from the pitcher's hand after he or she has released the baseball and the ball has begun its travel toward home plate. Ownership and use of these radar guns is largely limited to professional sports organizations such as baseball teams, professional scouts, or the relatively small number of well-funded amateur sports teams at the college and high school level. At the lower end of the radar gun market are models sold as the Bushnell Velocity and Bushnell Speedster, priced around $100. These devices only detect and measure a baseball long after it has left the pitcher's hand, after the ball has traveled as much as ⅔ or ¾ of the distance between the pitching rubber and home plate and are highly inaccurate where 7 to 8 mph errors are common in measuring true release speed of the pitch, hence are of very limited use.
Existing smartphone applications claim to provide speed detection but are, in fact, just stopwatches. These applications ask the user to tap or press down on their smartphone when the user thinks the pitch is released and then very quickly tap again or release their finger when the user thinks the ball crosses the plate. Since a pitch takes only 0.5 seconds or less to travel the 60.5 feet between the pitcher's rubber and home plate, these are very inaccurate attempts to measure the speed. The lack of precision in tapping or releasing in order to try to time such a short interval (0.5 second or less) makes the speeds presented by these applications very inaccurate, with errors of +/−10 mph common. There is thus a need of a professional level, highly precise measurement device to determine the speed of a pitched baseball that provides a cheaper alternative to expensive professional radar guns.